The Great Wall between India and China is not made of bricks and mortar; it is made of freedom and liberty. Any debate, any discussion, anywhere, on the superpowers-to-be is sealed, signed and delivered by the roaring presence of those essential ingredients in plentiful on our soil, and the utter lack of it in our great neighbour.

China notoriously detests dissent—and democracy.

It bars foreign media from freely moving inside its boundaries; Tibet is off-limits to them as is Tiananmen Square. BBC was famously taken off Rupert Murdoch‘s Star Network at the behest of the comrades. Google and Yahoo effortlessly dance to the tunes of the Chinese dictators. Chinese citizens routinely can’t log into YouTube, Facebook and other media. And so on.

But has difference between “us” and “them” been erased by the Congress-led UPA government?

In barring foreign journalists from going to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh to report the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama‘s week-long visit to the northeastern State which China off and on claims as its own, has the Manmohan Singh government thumbed its nose at India’s great democratic traditions?

Has India missed a trick in showing its inviolable sovereignty before a global audience? In behaving much like China would, has the Congress-led regime obliterated the difference between democracy and dictatorship? Or was the government right given the war-mongering that has recently been on display?

3 comments

ALl our politicians have some intolerance in them. They haven’t grown to be true democrats.

Congress has always done things that can barely be explained within democratic framework. Taslima Nasreen being a case in point. She was attacked and it is not her who has done anything against the laws of this country, but still she was hounded out.

From banning books to banning reporters they keep showing how undemocratic they can be.

Why, even BJP did quite a lot of the same – When Tehelka showed them to be bathing naked, they took their revenge on the financiers of Tehelka!

Hmmm… how dare the journalists express freedom to let into tense areas under the name of democracy when they are not willing to do their jobs with honesty/sincerity? How dare the reporters/journalists demand access to sensitive ares and news when they cannot deliver news in an as is format, without filling in their own colours/spices of prejudices/opinions?

Name one news agency today which presents “news” unaltered/complete? Such journalists/reporters demanding justice and ideal work conditions…haha…HILARIOUS!